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Monday, May 28, 2012

Flaky (and/or itchy) scalp causes and treatments

The main reasons (I found) why someone can get a flaky or itchy scalp: psoriasis, seborrhea (dandruff), dryness and fungal infections. I am going to separate the symptoms for each and then offer treatment options both natural and unnatural. Keep in mind that skin conditions should always be directed to your doctor or dermatologist and self-treatment should be considered (after a diagnostic) if the treatment your doctor offered is not working. Alternatively if you can't afford a doctor then you can just experiment and see what works (that's what I did and why I wrote this entry/did this research).

"The flakes of seborrhea are usually yellow or white, whereas those of psoriasis are a silvery-gray. And plain-vanilla dandruff produces dry, powdery white flakes of scalp skin" (source). I assume "plain vanilla dandruff" means fungal infections because seborrhoeic dermatitis is often referred to as dandruff and here they are mentioned as different.

Seborrhoeic dermatitis (a form of eczema, source)Causes:
- increased oil production
- hormonal changes
- stress
- neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease
- recovery from chronic conditions such as stroke or heart attack
- suppression of the immune system
- infrequent shampooing
- believed to be a fungal overgrowth (malassezia, a type of yeast, potentially contagious because yeast infections can be contagious)

Symptoms:
- excessive dandruff accompanied by intense itching and patches of flaky skin on the face or elsewhere,
- yellow or white flakes
- occurs in parts of the body with high oil (sebum) production (like the scalp, ears, face, chest, and folds of skin, such as the underarms or the skin below breasts or overhanging abdominal folds)
- thick, flaky, localized patches of scaleTreatment:
- shampoo with: tar (T-Gel Shampoo
- this worked for me after one months use everything cleared up), salicylic acid, zinc pyrithione (like Head & Shoulders), selenium sulfide Selsun Blue), ketoconazole (Nizoral). These are to be used while you are experiencing problems once or twice a week and once the symptoms subside non-medicated shampoo should be used
- cortisone
creams and antifungal creams (1% clotrimazole cream
and miconazole cream 2%
- applied once or twice a day
- cortisone-based cortisone-based liquid , gels , and foams
that you can apply to the scalp that won't leave your hair limp and matted. Nonsteroid cream like tacrolimus (Protopic) or pimecrolimus (Elidel) can also help
- natural options at the end of this entry